First victory for a Diesel sportscar

Sebring - March 17, 2006

Audi triumphs with Diesel power at Sebring

The new Audi R10 TDI has immediately written motorsport history in its

first outing: Dindo Capello (Italy), Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Allan

McNish (Scotland) won the 12-hour race at Sebring (USA) achieving the

first ever victory of a Diesel powered sportscar. Tom Kristensen became

the first driver to win America�s most famous endurance race for a fourth

time, achieving another record after his record seventh Le Mans victory

from last year.

30 degrees Celsius in the shade, high humidity and asphalt

temperatures reaching up to 43 degrees, caused especially difficult

circumstances on the Florida track which is one of the most demanding

in the world. Allan McNish had already shown the potential of the 650-hp

V12 TDI engine with a record-breaking pole position time in qualifying.

Because the heat exchanger had to be replaced after the morning warm-

up, Dindo Capello was forced to start the number two R10 TDI from the

pit-lane starting his chase from the back of the field.

Tom Kristensen achieves another record V12

It took Capello only half an hour before he had moved from 35th and last

position to second just behind the sister car of Frank Biela. Shortly before

the end of the second hour, the Italian took the lead, which the number

two R10 TDI kept until the finish. Only changing the fuel filter and two

loose wheel nuts caused unscheduled pit-stops.

The number one Audi R10 TDI that had clearly led the race for the first two

hours did not reach the finish. The car driven by Frank Biela (Germany),

Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and Marco Werner (Germany) was withdrawn just

before one-third distance due to an overheated engine.

TDI engine writes motorsport history

The reason: Shortly after the start of the race, the telemetry system of car

number one, that transmits the data from the car to the pits, had stopped

working. As a consequence, Audi Sport�s engine technicians had no data

at all for the whole distance. When Marco Werner reported high water

temperatures via radio during the fourth hour of the race, the second

placed R10 TDI was called into the pits. The team discovered radiators

completely blocked by tyre rubber. After cleaning the radiators, the

temperatures sank immediately. However, Team Audi Sport North

America decided to precautionary withdraw the second placed R10 TDI

from the race because the engine had been running with significantly

high temperatures for an extended period.

Quotes after the race at Sebring

Prof Dr Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of AUDI AG

"Audi has once again written motorsport history, this time by being the

first manufacturer to win an endurance race with a diesel powered

sportscar. This impressively confirms the efficiency of the modern TDI

technology. It is especially remarkable that this success was achieved at

the very first race of the new Audi R10 TDI. The whole team from Audi

Sport and the Technical Development of Audi has once again done a

great job. I thank everyone who is participating in this ambitious project.�

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"This has been a very tough race and thus a good test for Le Mans. To get

the first victory for a TDI engine after our pole position is fantastic. We

showed today what�s in our new sportscar with a Diesel engine. Thanks

to the whole crew from Audi Sport and Team Joest. Of course it is a

shame that we couldn�t bring both cars to the finish. But we learned a lot

today and know that it is still a long way to Le Mans.�

Dindo Capello (Audi R10 TDI #2):

"Audi has again done something extraordinary. With this victory we really

make a new chapter about motorsport history. It reminds me when Audi

started rallying with the quattro to show that four-wheel drive is good not

only for farm vehicles. When Audi announced it would go racing with a

Diesel engine, maybe many people did not take us seriously. But I think

now they will not laugh anymore about us.�

Tom Kristensen (Audi R10 TDI #2):

"Audi had the courage to put such a young car into a race at an early

stage. It paid off. I know how many people have been working very hard

for this and I would like to thank all of them. I have to say many thanks

especially to the mechanics. What they did after the warm-up was a job

which normally is not done in this short amount of time. Thanks also to

my colleagues Allan and Dindo who drove very well. Crossing the finish

line was a historic moment for the Diesel technology. I know that Audi has

a good image in America. I�m sure the image of Audi TDI will be soon as

good in the US.�

Allan McNish (Audi R10 TDI #2):

"The whole team should be very proud - we have created a little piece of

history. In a few years time, people will look back and realise this was a

monumental moment, not only in Audi Sport history, but also in

motorsport where the first ever Diesel engine won an international race.

We all worked very hard for this one. And we will all be celebrating a lot

tonight. �

Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"The first victory with a Diesel engine and for the R10 TDI is a great story.

Especially if you have in mind that we had not so much time. The roll-out

happened quite recently. You can only take your hat off to Audi Sport for

this achievement. We had a superb car at the beginning of the race. But

things like this can happen, that�s racing. Now we have to keep our heads

up, look forward, show the same performance at Le Mans and finish the

race there.�

Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"In motor racing you can have mechanical problems sometimes. Of

course there is sadness for us because a little problem prevented us

from having a good battle for the win. Despite that, it has been a positive

weekend. One of the two cars won its first race, this is a big achievement

and a big reward for all the work all of us did in developing the R10 TDI. I

keep my full confidence for the very big race which is Le Mans.�

Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #1)
"We had good race speed, and as long we were in the race, things went

without problems. Of course it is a shame we had to stop prematurely.

Despite that, my thanks to Audi and Team Joest. The boys had a lot of

work this weekend. Audi faced stiff competition after such a short period

of testing. Others often don�t have the courage to do this in public.�

Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director, Team Audi Sport North America)
"We are happy about the success because we have been working

extremely hard for that. It�s even more important we learned a lot of things

- we can take home a long list and work towards Le Mans. This will

happen with a lot of joy because we have seen the potential the R10 TDI

has and that the concept is right. Losing one car very early was not nice,

and I really feel sorry for the guys of car number one. They also worked

through many nights.�

1	2	P1	1	Tom Kristensen	Fin	0.000	Audi R10	Audi Sport North America	Start From Pits
2	37	P2	1	Liz Halliday	Fin	4 Laps	Lola B05/40 AER	Intersport Racing	--
3	4	GT1	1	Jan Magnussen	Fin	11 Laps	Chevrolet Corvette C6-R	Corvette Racing	--
4	009	GT1	2	Pedro Lamy	Fin	12 Laps	Aston Martin DB9	Aston Martin Racing	--
5	16	P1	2	Andy Wallace	Fin	13 Laps	Lola B06/10 AER	Dyson Racing Team	--
6	007	GT1	3	Tomas Enge	Fin	25 Laps	Aston Martin DB9	Aston Martin Racing	--
7	3	GT1	4	Max Papis	Fin	0.637	Chevrolet Corvette C6-R	Corvette Racing	--
8	6	P2	2	Emmanuel Collard	Run	26 Laps	Porsche RS Spyder	Penske Motorsports	Mechanical
9	50	GT2	1	Sebastien Bourdais	Fin	29 Laps	Panoz Esperante GTLM	Multimatic Motorsports Team Pa	--
10	45	GT2	2	Marc Lieb	Fin	5.365	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Flying Lizard Motorsports	--
11	62	GT2	3	Anthony Lazzaro	Fin	49.013	Ferrari 430 GT Berlinetta	Risi Competizione	--
12	41	P2	3	Alan Timpany	Fin	32 Laps	Lola B05/40 Zytek	Binnie Motorsports	--
13	44	GT2	4	Darren Law	Fin	34 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Flying Lizard Motorsports	--
14	80	GT2	5	Tom Kimber-Smith	Fin	37 Laps	Panoz Esperante GTLM	Team LNT	--
15	23	GT2	6	Klaus Graf	Fin	38 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Alex Job Racing	--
16	33	P2	4	Elton Julian	Fin	56 Laps	Courage C-65 AER	Barazi Epailon	--
17	31	GT2	7	Nic Jonsson	Fin	57 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Petersen Motorsports/White Lig	--
18	86	GT2	8	Jeroem Bleekemolen	Fin	68 Laps	Spyker C8 Spyder	Spyker Squadron	--
19	25	GT1	5	Terry Borcheller	Fin	74 Laps	Saleen S7R	Konrad Motorsport	--
20	79	GT2	9	Tim Sugden	Ret	82 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	J3 Racing	Gearbox
21	78	GT2	10	Jep Thornton	Pit	86 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	J3 Racing	--
22	8	P2	5	Raphael Matos	Ret	87 Laps	Courage C-65 Mazda	B-K Motorsports Inc	Overheating
23	85	GT2	11	Peter Kox	Fin	101 Laps	Spyker C8 Spyder	Spyker Squadron	Start From Pits
24	55	GT2	12	Dominik Farnbacher	Ret	151 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Farnbacher Loles Racing	Mechanical
25	21	GT2	13	Bill Auberlen	Ret	152 Laps	BMW E46 M3	BMW Team PTG	Gearbox
26	7	P2	6	Timo Bernhard	Ret	156 Laps	Porsche RS Spyder	Penske Motorsports	Mechanical
27	20	P1	3	Guy Smith	Ret	176 Laps	Lola B06/10 AER	Dyson Racing Team	Overheating
28	56	GT2	14	Jan Vonka	Ret	219 Laps	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Vonka Racing	Engine
29	9	P1	4	Gregor Fisken	Ret	221 Laps	Lola EX257 AER	Highcroft Racing	Mechanical
30	22	GT2	15	Justin Marks	Ret	225 Laps	BMW E46 M3	BMW Team PTG	Gearbox
31	12	P1	5	Chris McMurry	Ret	228 Laps	Lola EX257 AER	Autocon Motorsports	Mechanical
32	1	P1	6	Marco Werner	Ret	232 Laps	Audi R10	Audi Sport North America	Overheating
33	51	GT2	16	Bruno Junqueira	Ret	278 Laps	Panoz Esperante GTLM	Multimatic Motorsports Team Pa	Mechanical
34	26	GT1	6	Jamie Davies	Ret	283 Laps	Saleen S7R	Konrad Motorsport	Gearbox
35	10	P2	7	James Gue	Ret	287 Laps	Courage C-65 AER	Miracle Motorsports	Gearbox